In the art of electronics, it is well known to provide connectors with a shield around the connector body for preventing emission and/or pick up of EMI noise to and/or by nearby objects, e.g. signals in other connectors, signals on circuit boards, etc. When mounting the connector to a further object, such as a printed circuit board, the shield may require accurate positioning, e.g. for fitting and/or contacting to the further object such as for providing mechanical stability to the connector and/or for connecting the shield to a ground potential. Such mounting may be done by hand, but preferably it is automated. Automation may generally require very strict tolerances for parts. A further aspect is that connectors of one design may be processed and mounted to further objects by consumers using various types of automated machines, hindering optimisation of the connector with respect to any particular type of machine.
With the ongoing desire for reduced connector sizes and faster production, tolerances tend to be reduced further, which complicates manufacture and enhances the risk of increased rejection percentages.